Maybe, it's just the media, but is anyone getting strong Third World vibes off the UK at the moment?
I think it's down to perceptions. When the accounts are written afterwards the decade is written off, by some, as a period of industrial strife with all that goes with that description. In reality most things worked and the majority of people carried on as normal.
nothing like the scale of issue we have here.
I know lots of people in the UK, aged 30s and 40s. They all own their own home.
The 70s was the cumulation of the decline of empire and the loss of captive markets that represented. The 80s was a period where North sea oil revenues and selling off the nationalised assets bolstered the balance sheet and gave the illusion of real prosperity - but ultimately it lead directly to the current crisis in the UK. Really the 80s represented a hidden collapse which accelerated the decline in real national productivity - it was all a wasted opportunity.
it is actually on a very similar scale to here, but it just doesn't get quite as much coverage in certain parts of the media.
but there definitely is a huge housing issue in the uk now and has been for a few years.
A couple of points from your interesting post. One national asset was British Rail, for which I had a soft spot. Strikes notwithstanding, the railways worked for me. In the late 60's I had to travel daily by train and it was no problem. The same with the following decade. The closure of so many railway lines and stations, and selling off the land, in the 60's was a calamity. Mr.Beeching is still remembered for that. My perception of the empire was that it quietly, almost invisibly, departed. I don't recall it being a matter for discussion. It belonged to another era.
I've just remembered at junior school we had a lesson about Jomo Kenyatta, [another one locked up by the British!]. We had a poster of him on the wall. Obviously a favourite of the teacher.
The standard pattern was always to run a service down to the point where public discontent made it acceptable to suggest a sell off. I used to rely on the trains to visit in-laws in the late 80s, they were running it down at that point in preparation for privatisation and so it got to the stage where barely any journey went to plan. I learnt to drive in the end and the rest is history.
They are doing the same with the NHS. Most people cannot understand the hatred the Tories hold for the social security system.
One story about the Beeching cuts, [1962 I think], was a question asked of a cabinet minister - it may have been Beeching himself. He was asked what would people do if their local train station was closed. "Simple", came the answer, "they will drive to the next station and catch the train from there". To which came the response that they would probably just keep on driving to their destination!
I hope the story was true - and if it was, the rest, as you say, is history. Traffic congestion, even in my rural neck of the woods, is appalling.
Ironically, one of the reasons Dublin went into decline was it becoming part of the UK. The city was absolutely thriving in the 18th century, but most of the country went backwards once it came under direct British rule.
Decline is the intention, thats colonialism for you. What most people don't see is they will do it to their own as easily as a foreigner - and hence the poverty in the North of England.
We can see what would have happened to what is now the Republic had it remained in the UK. It would be a neglected backwater these days.
Thats just not true... Parts of Dublin and a select few lived well. Dublin was a tennement city from the late 1800's through to after independence. It was in the 1930's that the expansion of social housing began to take effect.
I was referring to the 1700s when Ireland still had its own Parliament and was not ruled by Westminster. As soon as it came under direct British rule in 1801 as part of the UK, the country started to go into decline.
Very astute perspective there!
What do you think about their economy during the Blair years?
Toned down Thatcherism with a good dollop of redistribution to please the masses. No real structural reforms to speak of.
So if you were to implement 3 structural reforms for their economy in the morning, what would they be?
This business with the armed police officers revolting may have subsided for now, but the fact that actual military forces were mentioned as backup to the civil forces does make you wonder if they're actually anticipating the type of force they once applied to their colonies, and I'm including Northern Ireland as a colony as it was a blueprint for later colonial conquest.
Workers councils made compulsory.
More regulation and support for apprenticeships.
Regional development banks.
Oh and an actual industrial strategy.
Doubt it , the current situation with armed police is a mini-crisis
Not comparable to the NI conflict in any way
I agree, but the fact that official voices would even continence it wasnt even heard in the aftermath terrorist campaigns in the past.
There's a jittery feel about it.
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List prices are cheaper, so 2 or 3% higher APR on a cheaper price is going to work somewhat similar to cheaper if anything.
I saved for a 5% deposit in 11 months.... and even with higher than normal mortgage payments, my salary can cover it. That is something that will not be happening in Ireland any time soon.
Access to credit is a fundamental blocker to the property market here and is artificially inflating the rental market as a result. then the lack of new housing stock further inflates the market...
there was a whole town built down the road from me in less than 2 years in the UK.... 15,000 houses.... that was a single development, that built nearly more houses in the same timeframe, than was built in the whole of ROI.
They don't have food banks in the 'third world' , they fend for themselves. So even by your worst metric used to assess the current UK economic situation, it's clearly not 'third world' it's also a horrendously outdated term. Not to even be pedantic but the original meaning of the world didn't even have anything to do with the development of countries, it was a political term. In the original iteration of this arbitrary map, Sweden was third world and Morocco was first world, just to emphasise how completely meaningless the whole terminology is.
Didn't they just loan us money which will be repaid? And they did it for their own interests because we were foolishly bailing out their bad investments in this country. It's crazy how us being the little guy getting screwed over is somehow twisted to the big guy screwing us actually doing us a favour.
It's much easier for the average person to buy in the UK, shared ownership. 5% deposit, look at Taylor Wimpey, Redrow, or Barrett homes developments outside Manchester. The thing is none of the areas where these developments are is a desirable area, and where desirable is a fortune in the UK. The other big thing is because everyone going to university moves away and makes a new life and new friends, you don't get these screeching I have to buy where I grew up that you get here.
Building regs are different in the UK so house building is cheaper.
And the very big one, if you can't pay the mortgage the house will be repossessed it's not like here.
What's different
I see they're having problems with the cost of the high speed rail
Costing a fortune per km compared to other countries, having to tunnel due to planning issues etc and building expensive terminals when not needed
Yes, very common for people to move around in the UK as from in Ireland where there is a tendency to stay closer to home. Affordable childcare, or the lack of it in Ireland, plays to that.
I'd refute your comments re northern England not being desirable. I have many family and friends living across northern England, all of who moved away from the south east/London, and all of whom are verry happy they did. Close to Leeds/Manchester.
My point is about housing
You might have misunderstood me by desirable I mean the likes of Didsbury or Sale, many of the developments outside Manchester are former industrial or mill towns. Manchester is a great city for culture and night life, the surrounding countryside is fabulous for outdoor activities, beautiful scenery, walks, country pubs.
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